A FATHER who had a vasectomy operation on the NHS says he now wants the procedure reversed after starting a new relationship.

But unemployed Jamie Hancock, 28, has been told he will have to find £3,700 to pay for the operation himself.

Jamie was just 25 when he had the operation done in 2009.

At the time he was married and he and his wife had two children and didn't want any more.

But they are now divorcing and Jamie has fallen in love with Charlotte Beesley, 22.

He said: "One day she's going to want to have children and she deserves to be able to but I can't give them to her.

"Then we'll have to go our separate ways and neither of us wants that."

Jamie, who lives in Bideford, said he didn't feel he was offered enough counselling or advice when he opted for the vasectomy, but his GP denied this.

Jamie, who hopes to start a new job as a bus driver next month, said: "I was 25. I didn't really know my own mind and I think I should have been made to think more about what I was doing.

"Even if I can't get my vasectomy reversed I want to make sure anyone else who's considering it knows what the consequences can be."

Jamie said he went for a vasectomy because he could do it in a day.

He said: "My wife wanted her tubes tied but that meant she'd need two weeks off work.

"For a young family with two kids and a mortgage, at the time it made financial sense."

Jamie believes he was the youngest of his surgeon's 7,000 vasectomy patients.

He said: "I just want the chance to start a family with Charlotte in the future."

Charlotte, who is from Bideford and works at the Instow Arms, said Jamie's situation doesn't change the way she feels about him but that she would still like to have kids.

She said: "What woman wouldn't want children? But I'm prepared to sacrifice that to be with Jamie."

Dr Robin Buckland, the Northam GP who performed the surgery, said: "All patients who are referred for a vasectomy to Northam Surgery are counselled by their GP and further counselled in detail by the surgeon performing the operation.

"They are also given written instructions and are informed that vasectomy is an irreversible procedure and that reversal of vasectomy is not funded by the NHS.

"It is unusual for patients under 30 to be offered a vasectomy but there are always exceptional cases.

"Both the GP and the surgeon would have to be happy that this is in the patient's and his partner's best interests.

"As with all patients, Mr Hancock was fully counselled and was made aware that this was an irreversible operation and that he would not be able to get a reversal vasectomy on the NHS, unless exceptional circumstances have been demonstrated."

Jamie was advised by the NHS and by friends and family that what he planned was very rash at such a young age and asked him to consider the very situation he now finds himself in. But He knew best and swore he would never ever want a split family.
I think the nhs have acted well in this matter.
After finding a job, he should easily be able to live, support his current children and wife and save for a reversal.
I find it hard to understand why the Journal found this story newsworthy except to highlight to other young men their stupidity..

You pays the money, you makes the choice!
No money to pay with then you have no choice.
I have heard that infringes the human rights of the long term unemployed to be sterilised, well it also infringes on my human rights to have to fund their offspring.
I had a vasectomy at 25, best decision I ever made. He I part from my wife then I have to live with it.
We have a growing population and a lot of children that need adopting, fostering. Lets help those children first before we continue to overcrown our little island.....

He should really be concentrating on looking after the 2 children he already has, which as he is unemployed is clearly receiving benefits to pay for them, rather than trying to take more of the hard earned tax payers money. Furthermore threre are many different ways to have children, and if they are as 'in love' as they really say they are than it wouldn't mean that they would have to 'go there seperate' ways because other couples get through not being able to conceive children, and mostly they didnt have the choice to start off with. As he is just getting divorced they obviously haven't been together that long, so maybe he should thing long and hard before taking such drastic action, and learn from last time. Taking the time to save will prove to them both that they are serious, rather than him just getting someone else pregnant and having more children he cant afford to pay for. The best thing for him to do is concentrate on getting a job and actually keeping it and stop sponging off everyone else and set a real example for his current children.

Agree with all here. I myself no longer "chase postmen" and was made fully aware of the consequences.I suggest he put's his name down on the overtime list if he becomes a bus driver to save the £ 3700 he needs for the op.

I can't understand why Jamie would think the NHS would pay for this reversal. He obviously didn't think before he went ahead with the vasectomy and I'm positive the GP that authorised the procedure would have given Jamie all the information needed to make a sensible decision. It's a shame that Jamie is incapable of making a sensible decision, why couldn't he have used other contraception methods? or to quote Jeremy Kyle "Put something on the end of it."
As a working taxpayer, I'll be damned if we should pay for him to have more children. In my opinion, the NHS have performed a service by ensuring this moron doesn't produce any more offspring. My advice to his current partner would be to find someone 'better equipped' for fatherhood.